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KARACHI (Business Recorder ) 09/27/2001 - The Trading Corporation ofPakistan (TCP) on Wednesday sold 8,650 metric tonnes of imported soybeanoil for more than Rs 328.76 million through an auction. Chairman TCP, SyedMasood Alam Rizvi, said that a large number of bidders participated in theauction held at the corporation's office located in Lahore.In all, 42 ghee and cooking oil units and commercial importers registeredwith TCP participated in the fourth auction.The TCP sold soybean oil at the rates ranging between Rs 38.002 to Rs38,011 per tonne.He said the corporation sold seven lots of 30 tonnes, 23 lots of 100tonnes, four lots of 250 tonnes and 10 lots of 300 tonnes.It may be noted that the TCP had floated a tender for the auction of10,000 tonnes of soybean oil on Sept 21.The United States government will supply 163,000 tonnes of soybean and75,000 tonnes of soybean oil worth $80 million to Pakistan under the aid.The corporation had earlier sold 4,250 tonnes and 6,700 tonnes at Karachiand 4,000 tonnes at Lahore in three auctions.The auction was held in pursuance of TCP's auction notice dated September20, 2001, the 4th auction for a quantity of 10,000 tonnes imported soybeanoil of US origin under 416(b) programme in TCP's Regional Office on 1stFloor, LDA Plaza, Egerton Road, Lahore.The auction commenced at 1100 hours on Wednesday, September 26, 2001.About 42 ghee/cooking oil units and commercial importers registered withTCP participated in the auction.The total cost of 8,650 tonnes of soybean oil sold comes to Rs328,760,400.

MUMBAI, Sept. 23 (Business Line) - FOLLOWING imposition of tariff valuesand advent of domestic oilseed harvest season, there has been asignificant slowdown in Indian purchases of various palm oils. After ashort- lived rally in July, the overseas market is forced to seek lowerlevels over the last four weeks as Indian demand declined.If any proof of import slowdown was required, it is here. In the first 20days of the current month, a mere 25,000 tonnes were shipped out fromMalaysia to India, according to shipment data compiled by internationalsurveyors SGS (Malaysia) Sdn Bhd. This comprised about 13,400 tonnes ofrefined palm oil, 5,200 tonnes of refined palmolein and 6,500 tonnes ofcrude palm oil.During August, a record volume of 6.5 lakh tonnes arrived in the countryand in July 5.2 lakh tonnes. For the current month, arrivals are projectedat about 3.5 lakh tonnes, mainly soft oils (degummed soyabean oil) andcrude palm oil. October imports may be even lower. Aggregate importsduring oil year November 2000-October 2001 will be about 48 lakh tonnes,slightly up from 45 lakh tonnes of last year.Will tariff values be revised down? With the slide in palm oil prices inMalaysia, there is renewed expectation of a downward revision in tariffvalues for palm oils here. Large arrivals in July and August kept thedomestic market well fed until recently; but pipeline stocks have startedto dry up as further imports are dwindling.This can lead to a sudden price spurt, especially at the time of impendingfestivals. A weakening rupee too is bullish for the edible oil market.Poor import commitment for September and October because of acutedisparity between local and international prices may lead to tightening ofsupplies and price spikes here. At the current overseas market prices (butassessed at much higher tariff value), palm oil imports have become anunviable business.Also, the upcoming US military action has the potential to disruptinternational cargo movement for several days. In anticipation of priceincrease, some importers and stockists have reportedly gone slow on theirsales programme.However, the policy makers will ride on the horns of a dilemma. Reductionin tariff values will push overseas prices up, result in revenue reductionand depress domestic oilseeds and oils prices. With the kharif oilseedharvest ready to commence, any tinkering with the customs duty or tariffvalues will have to be a carefully calibrated exercise.New crop oilseed prices are likely to come under pressure, notwithstandingthe sharp increase in minimum support price announced recently. NationalAgricultural Cooperative Marketing Federation of India (NAFED) has alreadyindicated its intention to step in to support prices by procuring aboutfive lakh tonnes.

ISLAMABAD, 9/27/2001(Financial Times Information Limited) - Pakistan isinching towards sever shortage of palm oil as commodity's supply hasdiscontinued due to danger of looming US attack on Afghanistan. Theimporters of palm oil could neither get their due shipments nor place neworders as none of the shipping companies were ready to sail to Pakistanafter the air crash incidents in New York and Washington.Talking to Business Recorder, President Pakistan Ghee Manufacturers,Shaikh Ikram said: "The country is facing alarming situation as palm oilstocks are shrinking quickly. We have informed the concerned quarters thatif the blockade continued it would result in shooting up of prices."According to market analysts, cooking oil and ghee price may increase from10 percent to 15 percent after two weeks if supply of imported palm oleinand palm oil could not be restored.When contacted an official of the Commerce Ministry said the governmentwas weighing various options for the restoration of palm oil supply fromMalaysia including one, war-risk premium.Price of cooking oil and ghee are already touching an all time high in theopen market due to difference between tanker owners and palm oil importerson fares from Karachi to various cities.Pakistan has palm oil stocks for two weeks and the government wasexpecting some positive development before the situation aggravates, hopesthe official.Sensing the gravity of the situation, the Federation of Pakistan Chambersof Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) had already warned the government thatthe blockade might take a turn for the worse if the supply remainedsuspended for a long time. In particular, it mentioned commodities forwhich Pakistan is dependent on other countries.The FPCCI demanded that the government should formulate a contingency planwith the private sector's involvement to cope with the situationconfronted with the country.In the case of a number of essential items, Pakistan heavily depends onother countries. Palm oil, tea, chemicals, life saving drugs, fertiliserswere included in the list of imported items.

26 September 2000(Business Times) - CANOLA oil is one of the earliestexamples of a food product modified to enhance its nutritional value.Canola, a low erucic acid rapeseed oil, was developed because ofnutritional concerns with the fatty acid, erucic acid. Today, canola oilis said to be one of the healthiest oils available because of thecombination of its low saturated and high monounsaturated fatty acidprofile as well as its unique level of the Omega-3 fatty acid,alpha-linolenic acid. The oil comes from the seeds harvested from thecanola plant. The cool climes of western Canada are most suitable for thecultivation of canola plants which produce bunches of yellow flowers thatdrop to reveal green pods that ripen and turn brown. Inside the pods aretiny round seeds from which the oil is extracted. The seeds are rolled orflaked to make it easier to extract the oil. The oil is then processedinto salad oils, margarines, and shortenings. Canola oil is favoured foruse as a cooking oil because it is light, clear and does not have adistinctive flavour. The oil is excellent for cooking! It doesn't transferfood flavours in fondues or deep fryers (strain oil before re-using). Ithas a high smoke point (temperature at which fat begins to break down andemit smoke), making it most suitable for deepfrying and it drains morethoroughly than melted shortening. You can use it in salads as it does notsolidify even when refrigerated and won't separate from other saladdressing ingredients. In fact, it helps to better blend dressingingredients. It's great for baking as you can lower the saturated fatcontent in your baking by replacing other fats with canola oil or by usingit to grease cake pans and cookie sheets.In Malaysia, canola oil is sold under the brand name Mazolar CanolaCooking Oil which is:* High in monunsaturated fatty acids which help reduce cholesterol levels.* A good source of tocopherol (otherwise known as Vitamin E) which acts asa natural anti-oxidant* Contains Omega-3, the anti-thrombotic agent that helps in reduction ofblood clots.* Good source of beneficial dietary energy* Does not solidify even when refrigerated

26 September 2001(Business Times) - MALAYSIA’S commodity sector is notexpected to be adversely hit by low demands and poor sales unlike someother sectors if the US decides to attack Afghanistan, Primary IndustriesMinister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yaik said.He said the sector mainly comprising of palm oil, rubber, timber and otherraw materials will not be as hard hit as the electrical and electronics (Eand E) sector.“It is still too early to say but some pros and cons will develop onMalaysia’s commodities in which higher or lower demand may be seen.“But I expect it won’t be substantial,” Dr Lim told reporters in KualaLumpur yesterday after officiating a conference on electronic commerce onstrategies for penetrating markets organised by the Malaysian Investors’Association.Dr Lim was asked to comment on the effect of US retaliation towardsterrorist attacks in New York and Washington on September 11 on the localcommodities and whether the commodity will stand out to be the saviour inthe event of a global recession.Malaysia was affected by the regional economic downturn of 1997 but wascushioned by its wide spectrum of economic activities, notably sales ofits broad range of commodities namely palm oil, timber and rubber.Similarly, prices of the world’s commodities such as crude oil, gold, tin,palm oil and rubber increased during the Gulf War in 1990.Dr Lim said developed countries are so tied up in building up theirhardware to go full swing into war, which may result in their economiesgoing into a recession.“The possible war may increase the prospects of a global recession but atthe same time more war machinery need to be built, which in turn willtrigger greater demands from other sectors,” he said, citing the KoreanWar in the 1950s as an example in which prices of natural rubberincreased.“The US would need more rubber to build their war machines but it is stillto premature to speculate,” he said.Dr Lim said it is still too early to say what effects the possible warwill have overall but increased purchases of Malaysia’s palm oil byPakistan of late has been a positive development.“Prices of palm oil increased by as much as RM50 a tonne and reports ofpalm oil shipments to Pakistan being disrupted are not true,” he said.He said India and China, Malaysia’s first and second biggest palm oilbuyers respectively, may also want to start stock-piling palm oil andtimber in view of the possibility of supply disruptions and the USmilitary campaigning against terrorists.He also dismissed reports by a foreign wire agency there will be ashortage in rubber supply if war breaks out.“The Tripartite Rubber Cooperation consisting of the world’s top threerubber producers formed early this month will regulate supply and demand,”he said.Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia account 85 per cent of the world’s rubberproduction with a combined output of some 4.4 million tonnes last year.Malaysia is the world’s largest producer of palm oil, producing some 11million tonnes last year of which nine million tonnes were exported

26 September 2001 (Business Times) - RECOGNISING the potential of anelectronic-commerce (e-commerce) in boosting sales of commodities, theGovernment has established three Internet portals for natural rubber, palmoil and timber and will continue to set up more for other crops.Primary Industries Minister Datuk Seri Dr Lim Keng Yeik said the portalshave enabled commodity-related companies to have a wider business reach.“By having an infrastructure such as the Internet portal, Malaysia’scommodities can have a wider market and can achieve higher sales.“E-commerce will help Malaysia’s palm oil, rubber, timber, furniture andother raw materials have a wider market and wider sales revenues,” he toldreporters after opening a conference on e-commerce — Strategies forpenetrating markets in Kuala Lumpur yesterday.As an example, he cited Goldman Sachs as saying that by 2004, 12 per centof all agricultural sales in the US will be conducted over the Internetcompared to only 4 per cent in 1999.E-commerce simply means business transactions conducted over the Internet.Dr Lim said the three main portals, for natural rubber, palm oil andtimber, were established to achieve that goal.For the rubber industry, a memorandum of understanding has been signedbetween the Multimedia Development Corp (MDC) and the Malaysian RubberBoard to establish a rubber portal.“The model proposed will provide the e-business component, carry out thehosting and search for processors, manufacturers and consumers, as well asprovide the facilities for rubber communities to interact with oneanother,” Dr Lim said.He said the portal would allow small players to directly participate inthe rubber trade and slowly phase out the current trading system.“The Government is trying to change the conventional whispering type oftrading of natural rubber which has been in existence since 15 years ago,”he said.In the timber industry, the Malaysian Timber Council is jointly developinga portal with Virtual One Sdn Bhd, a subsidiary of MDC to promote andexport Malaysia’s timber products through Malaysian Trade ElectronicExchange (MTeX).Dr Lim said as global competition increases, Malaysian timber companiesshould involve themselves in e-commerce as it will be the marketing mediumof the future.In the palm oil business, he said ePOMEX, the world’s first electronicpalm oil exchange for trading and physical delivery of palm oil products,has already been put in place.He said ePOMEX will go on “live” on October 1 for domestic transactionsand would be available to international players from the first quarter ofnext year.“The 24-hour seven days a week ePOMEX is essentially an electronicmarketplace or trading floor bringing together growers, millers, refiners,manufacturers and traders to provide online transactions for buyers andsellers of palm oil products,” he said.With the establishment of ePOMEX, Dr Lim said different time zones aroundthe world is not a barrier to conduct palm oil business anymore.“This improves market coverage for sellers and becomes sources of supplyfor buyers and also enhances price transparency in the market place,” hesaid.Dr Lim said Malaysian companies must speed up the process becausedeveloped countries such as the US, Japan, Canada and Australia are farahead in utilising e-commerce for trading.Malaysia achieved a trade expansion of 20.3 per cent with a total tradevalue of RM685.7 billion which was three times its gross domestic productand was ranked the world’s 17th largest trading nation last year.However, only a fraction or around 4 per cent of this trade was conductedvia e-commerce.The business-to-business, one of the various facets of e-commerce in Asiaalone, was worth around US$40 billion (US$1 = RM3.80) last year and isexpected to reach a value of US$900 billion by 2005. Malaysia’s e-commerceis expected to reach US$1 billion by 2003.

Kuala Lumpur, September 24, 2001 - CRUDE palm oil futures prices on theMalaysia Derivatives Exchange (MDEX) plunged sharply in early trading onfears that the US military operations in the Arabian Sea would hinder palmoil shipment to Pakistan. The sell-off move was short-lived as aggressivetechnical and short-covering buying emerged when the market slipped belowthe nine hundred ringgit per tonne level and lifted the market to closeFriday slightly higher.The December futures ranged widely from an intra-week’s high of RM999 toRM890 and settled the week moderately higher at RM993, up RM11 per tonnefrom a week ago.

BOMBAY, Sep 23 (Reuters) - India's edible oil imports are likely to fallby over six percent next year as domestic production of oilseedsincreases, a leading industry official said on Sunday.Edible oil imports are likely to fall to 5.15 million tonnes in the yearending October 2002 from an estimated 5.5 million tonnes in the currentyear, Dorab E. Mistry, Director of Godrej International Ltd, told avegetable oil conference.He estimated India's edible oil production at 8.21 million tonnes nextyear, up from 7.16 million tonnes."Projected bumper crops in the forthcoming oil year will add one milliontonnes to the supply of oil but will reduce imports by just 350,000tonnes," he told the Globoil India conference.The balance will be taken up by normal growth in per capita consumption, arise in population and re-building of stocks, said Mistry, who is based inLondon.Godrej International is a leading global trading house.According to industry estimates, India's winter-harvest oilseedsproduction is likely to rise to 17 million tonnes in 2001/02 from 15.8million the previous year.He said palm oil imports could fall to 3.15 million tonnes from 3.64million during the review period, while imports of soyoil may rise to 1.6million tonnes from 1.37 million tonnes."If South America expands soybean cultivation by another 10 to 15 percent,the pressure from soybean oil on palm in the months April to August 2002could be awesome," Mistry said.He said India will continue to import large volumes of soyoil, unless itreduces import duties on crude palm oil (CPO) and refined, bleached anddeodorised (RBD) palm olein. "This creates a dark cloud over palm."India imposed its heaviest-ever duty of 85 percent on RBD palm olein and75 percent on CPO in February. But the duty on soyoil remained unchangedat 45 percent due to the country's commitment in the World TradeOrganisation.

KUALA LUMPUR, Sept 23 (Reuters) - An expected fall in output and possiblehoarding in case of retaliation for deadly aerial attacks against theUnited States could soon push the price of crude palm oil back above 1,000ringgit ($263) a tonne, Malaysian plantation giant Kumpulan Guthriebelieves.CPO prices, which reached about 1,300 ringgit per tonne in early August,have been particularly volatile since the attacks on New York andWashington on September 11.The benchmark third-month futures contract fell as low as 890 ringgitlast week from over 1,000 ringgit on the day of the attacks. But by Fridayit had climbed back to 993.In an interview late on Friday, Guthrie Group Chief Executive OfficerAbdul Khalid Ibrahim said he expected the recovery to continue, pushingprices back through the 1,000 ringgit barrier."The reason why I'm more bullish is partly because I think people willstock up in times of uncertainty," Khalid told Reuters.Traders are worried about a possible disruption in shipments from Malaysiaand Indonesia to Pakistan, a major market for the two top producers, inthe event of retaliatory attacks by the United States.Pakistan borders Afghanistan, accused by the United States of harbouringfugitive guerrilla leader Osama bin Laden, who the White House says is theprime suspect in the attacks.One plantation analyst noted that during the 1991 Gulf War CPO pricesactually appreciated about 30 percent despite the cloud hanging over thebig Middle East market, which accounts for about 15 percent of palm oilconsumption.Khalid said an expected decline in Malaysia's CPO output and stocks couldalso prop up prices.He said Malaysian palm oil stocks had fallen as low as 880,000 tonnes atthe end of August, less than a month's requirement and down by a steep320,000 tonnes from a year earlier.Khalid said there would be a seasonal increase in production and stocksthis month, but they would still be sharply below last September's levels.For the September-December period, Khalid expects Malaysian CPO productionto be 600,000 tonnes lower than a year earlier.He sees palm oil stocks ending the year at 900,000 tonnes, a three-yearlow.Khalid said he also expected exports to be robust, despite concern overdisruption to shipments, as palm oil is relatively cheap compared withother vegetable oils.India, the biggest palm oil market, is likely to start buying again in thenext few weeks because of the low prices, he said.For all of 2001, Guthrie expects Malaysia to produce 11.3 million tonnesof CPO, up from 10.8 million tonnes last year.

Kuala Lumpur, 25 September 2001(Business Times) - PALM oil shippers areexpected to face higher freight rates and also a "war risk" insurancepremium for shipments to Pakistan and the neighbouring areas on fears ofpossible US military action in Afghanistan.

Kuala Lumpur, September 24, 2001 (The Star) - IOI Group Bhd’s strategy inexpanding its manufacturing business locally and worldwide lies inaggressive marketing to win not only existing customers but also new ones.According to IOI Bhd’s executive director Lee Yeow Chor, the group hasestablished major selling points worldwide to promote its palm oilproducts.“We have set up certain strategic ports in Europe and maintained the brandname Acidchem which is widely known,” said Yeow Chor referring to theoleochemical industry.IOI bought a strategic stake in Palmco Holdings Bhd in March 1997. Palmco,which is the target of a takeover bid by diversified group Sime Darby Bhd,has posted strong results for the year ended June 30, 2001.Its pre-tax profit jumped 62% to RM88.65mil from RM54.45mil previously.Its core oleochemical operations, including its 30% associate FattyChemical (M) Sdn Bhd, has contributed about RM131mil or 93% to the group’searnings.“Many of the oleochemical products are substitutes for petrochemicals.Palm oil is the most attractive substitute and as Malaysia is the largestworld palm oil producer, the oleochemical share (in the palm oil industry)is very important,” said Yeow Chor in an interview in Puchong recently.Malaysia, he contends, has a crucial role to play in the oleochemicalindustry, since the products are widely used in many countries.When CPO prices drifted downwards last year, earnings from theoleochemical sector helped cushioned the negative impact to thebottomlines.Oleochemicals are used in a wide range of products such as cosmetics,perfume and detergents that are necessary for modern living.Such strong earnings potential from the oleochemical industry promptedconglomerate Sime Darby Bhd to make takeover bid on Palmco Holdings whichSime said represented a good synergy with its plantation business.According to an IOI statement, the company intends to retain the listedstatus of Palmco. The deadline for the shareholders’ acceptances isexpected to be on Oct 10.At the end of the day, one institutional investor said the oleochemicalindustry was regaining its brilliance and that the Sime-IOI episode servesas a wake-up call to investors and market players on the tremendouspotential of the oleochemical industry.

17 September 2001 (Business Times) - RIKEVITA (M) Sdn Bhd will beinvesting RM106 million on a new plant to manufacture vegetablebased foodemulsifiers to tap the growing global demand.